2018 the year of 1/2's

Sunday - October 27

Bike

1h 50m

30.00 miles

16.36 Mi/hr

forgot to turn on the Garmin till I was out there a way. Bike computer stopped working for a while. Still I know the route distance. I was riding actually kind of fast, lots of 18 to 20 with some 22 on the way back. not much wind today. Stopped twice to text my kids. Stopped and rerouted to ride past the house my son has made an offer on, and stopped to visit with my daughter on the way back to the house, so who knows what the actual ride time was.

Nice ride 70 degrees and the traffic on Sunday afternoon really was light, and I hit it perfectly.

After the first bit I really enjoyed it. Focused on riding a T2 type of effort in the aerobars. We have good riding out here. For the main part of the ride it's 6 miles between stop lights. Much more continuous riding than in Albuquerque.

having a real hard time getting going today. I was trying to blame it on nutrition yesterday or maybe the cold swim, but it finally dawned on me that I was up at 5:00 and didn't hit the sack until midnight. So I took a nap.

update: got the laundry mostly done, the car unloaded and the bike ride done. Dinner with my daughter and we had a good visit. No packing or laying out of stuff. I have only tomorrow to get it done - I leave Tuesday morning at 6:50 for Florida. :)

Saturday - October 26

Run

45m

3.76 miles

11m 58s /Mi

Forgot to pack a running shirt where I could get to it, so (gasp) I ran topless at Bottomless Lakes State Park. I like to start on the wetlands trail. Huge rains last night and the wetlands were beautiful. Lots of clear water and foliage. Only saw one bird - might have been a small hawk, but I'm not sure. Lovely cool afternoon in the mid 70's with a fairly strong north wind but the sun was warm.

Focused on keeping it easy. Achilles did not hurt. Pretty much nothing hurt. A bit slow that's all.

Swim

53m

3000.00 yards

01m 46s /100 yards

COLD. The water was quite chilly after my run. Strong north wind, that I though would blow the warm water toward the starting end, but it was pretty chilly last night and this morning. That combined with the rain and hail I suppose made it cooler. not too bad once I got in. I had planned to do five laps, but stopped after four. My fingers and toes were quite numb, and I just thought it was a good idea. Discovered when I got out and got my wetsuit off that I was shivering. I had a cold headache too. good thing I got out when I did. I was a bit off balance too. Interesting - from the cold, or from simply swimming for an hour straight?

Going across was challenging with the waves coming at me from a slight angle. On the third lap I finally got the timing down and stroked with the wave timing and breathing got easier. Coming back was almost like body surfing, easy to breath and it felt like the waves were pushing me. Also the sun was directly in front of me which made sighting super easy - all I had to do was swim toward the light, and it made the bubbles off my hands glisten and sparkle. I practiced breathing on both sides in spite of the waves and sighting.

Stopped to visit with three young men when I got out. They wanted to know how far, and how fast. A few people asked if I was the guy doing laps out there. That's kind of cool. The young men asked about why, and I told them about Ironman. They were impressed. That's kind of rewarding for an old guy like me.

7 days till IMFL

I did the ski school hiring clinic, had second breakfast with friends, drove to Bottomless, ran, swam, then drove the rest of the way to Midland.

Tomorrow will be unpack, laundry, and repack. Need a 2 hour ride, then I can disassemble the bike and pack it. I've already got a flat. Those stickers in Albuquerque. I may put a new front tire on. I've had 8 or 9 flats with that tire, and even though it's brand new - only 7 or 8 rides it still might be good to go to the race with a new one.

Thursday - October 24

Run #1

1h 19m

7.25 miles

10m 53s /Mi

Beautiful evening run up to Tramway, across, then through some neighborhoods and eventually down to the pool. 460 ft of climbing. That doesn't sound very big. but going up the hill my run pace was 10 decreasing to 12, and ending up at 14 min/mi on the steepest part. 10-11 min/ mi going across then 8 - 9:30 running down the hill for pretty much the second half. And that part was fun! feet and ankles hurt a little toward the end of that stuff.

sort of a strength / speed work out. Short and with a little more effort. - felt pretty good. Every one was complaining about how cold the water was. It was probably 81, maybe 80 at the lowest. Just funny to me, even though I like the water a little warmer than most competitive swimmers. They usually keep this pool at 84 to 85 degrees.

Run #2

20m

1.60 miles

12m 30s /Mi

started off with a little run for just over 1/2 mile at 10 - 11 min/mi. Then decided I should walk the rest of the way to train the walk. I did ok at holding about a 15 - 16 min/mi pace. It takes some concentration. Ran the last few blocks at 10 min/mi

Perhaps next year I should spend some time getting some speed back.

9 Days till IMFL

but who's counting?

Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that you can make anything happen. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Wow, how true is this? Sometimes it's a leap of faith, but if you believe you can run an Ironman race, then make the things happen that lead to that goal, then you arrive at the start line ready, and amazing, magic things happen. (I think I'm going to need a little magic on the run this year - fingers crossed )

Opted to sleep a bit this morning in keeping with my goal of close to 8 hours a night. I'll try to get out this afternoon and run and swim.

Today - shredding to document destruction people. Clean out more boxes of paper, notes, clippings. Pack car with stuff that can fit. Pack for Florida trip. WORK on project. Buy replacement lights for house. Other things at Lowes. Did I mention get some work done. And not spend too much time on BT and looking at the beach webcam.

Wednesday - October 23

10 days till IMFL

Don't mistake the spigot for the source

Totally cleaned out Kitchen this morning, including taking down a light over the sink that's been there since I was a child. Frosted the cake - two layers with raspberry between, chocolate between them and chocolate on the outside. yum! dinner tonight with a friend. The painters were ready to start on the Kitchen when they arrived. Brought re-enforcements. I've got three guys working here today. Keeping ahead of them is a challenge.

I thought I might go ride later in the afternoon, but keeping in front of the work crew precluded that. - UnPlanned Rest Day

Tuesday - October 22

Run

54m

3.78 miles

14m 17s /Mi

Tried to run. was supposed to be a tempo run. Legs, quads especially, were just too tired, so I decided to make it TED. Take-it Easy Day. I walked, trying to maintain a 15 min pace. Now that felt pretty good. Got to train the walk too because I'll be using it.

to the pool and back.
Gorgeous cool morning. my plan was to commune with nature and the universe, but with the legs hurting and thinking about walking I forgot. I passed a house at about 1 mile with a sign in the front yard: God Loves You. Ha! :) A reminder. So I spent the rest of the run communing with the trees. I experimented with extending my reach down to Ruidoso then all the way to my trees in Midland. Not sure I got there, but interesting. There was a lady walking with a lovely Labrador type of dog. I was, unconsciously, probably communicating with him, and as we passed he came over to say hi. She was embarrassed, but I had already been saying hi non vocally to him.
Great, great walk. Sunshine, blue,blue sky, and the leaves are changing colors.

Swim

45m

2405.95 yards

01m 52s /100 yards

400
6x50 drill
2x500
2x100 ebeh
300 cd and strokes

11 days till IMFL

yup, I'm excited!

Not sure what I'm going to do. There doesn't seem to be a way to make the font any bigger.

Monday - October 21

Bike

1h 10m

15.00 miles

12.86 Mi/hr

Cold today. I find it amusing that yesterday I ran 15 miles and today I rode 15 miles. Warmed up easy, rode hard up to the mountain, then pretty much rode easy the rest of the way. Felt like it ought to be easy after yesterday.
Another flat. I do not like these goatheads at all. I was lucky though, when I figured out that the tire was getting soft, I found a spot where the sun had just risen, so I got to be in the sunshine while changing the flat. Did I mention that it's cold outside today. Thermometer says 40 but it felt a lot colder than that.

12 Days till IMFL

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

Misunderstandings - so easy. We each listen through our own set of filters. Even if you actually heard what they said, is it really what they meant? I'm trying to learn to ask questions to confirm my understanding, and to speak more broadly and precisely.

Monday, the last week here before IMFL. Painter's are scraping popcorn texture off of the living room ceiling. Hard work and it's a mess, but most modern buyers don't like it, so down it comes. I've got to get some work done this week - otherwise this month will be a waste as was last month. Cannot afford that.